Solo was never gone, just the opportunities and meta changed over time. Solo fun and success is something you can only rely on yourself of course, don’t count on your opponent to make it easy for you.
Honestly, solo PVP is not impossible. You just have to be aware of the engagement matrix even more depending on whether you’re entering or already inside a FW plex.
It’s also another reason why kitey ships are even more in meta in FW because that allows them to control engagement in case they see that the single Slasher that entered the plex was just bait for their 5 Slicers friends to pounce upon
I see these posts all the time and am always perplexed. I am almost exclusively a solo PVPer in the FW area and get plenty of fights. I’m hardly the best, and yes sometimes you snag some easy/gimme kills on cyno ventures - but I have yet to find FW solo to be non viable. One big thing to consider is that fights don’t have to end with a killmail to have been fun.
The trick, for me at least, is picking the right ship/fit and also having a few options locally. I fly 3-5 ships into a system that is or is near a frontline and that lets me adapt to take a wider variety of fights. To be clear, none of these are bling fit, so that isn’t a requirement.
If you are interested in learning more or some support in your endeavors, drop me a mail in game and I’d be happy to help you establish yourself.
Where are you finding all of these Slicers?
Asking for no particular reason.
I operate about the same way, though I go a little overboard with like 15 Condor fits and 12 Hookbill fits. I don’t import them all but I still feel a little silly sometimes.
That said the main problem I am experiencing would be a lack of solo people in my area. And while I am waiting for a good fight, I see all of these algos bots swarming about. Usually like 5 units of 5. Just leeching. Miss the people who fought me in the past.
Keep in mind that “solo PVP” applies to what you are doing, and does not mandate what those you are fighting do. I take many fights that are outnumbered and will still walk away with a kill and my hull.
The key here is to fly fits designed with that in mind. For example, my standard Tristan fit (check zkill) is kitey and fast. When I come across a small gang that I want to engage the goal is to get one of them out of position where I can take them down without the others catching/killing me. That specific fit does so through a mix of ranged (drone) dps so I can be applying damage while we dance (keeping an eye on their HP and pulling/re-launching them), the ACs for either anti-drone work or adding extra DPS, and the neut which will frequently help me break tackle. Skirmishes like this can last 5-10 minutes as we all try to get the upper hand without an official “fight” happening for most of it. In some cases I get caught and die gloriously and in others I do manage to get one opponent a bit too eager where they die. Even if the fight ends with no kill mails they are some of the most enjoyable solo frigate PVP content around as it isn’t over in 30 seconds.
Solo PVP is really about knowing your ship and how to make it take full advantage of every facet of the fit so you can have a wide engagement envelope. FW, in my opinion, is a great place for this as it has some of the most defined “terrain” around in that you can set up in plexes to filter certain ships out, control where and how fights start, and generally have better situational awareness without alts.
Forgot to mention the “5 Algos” scenario - they are worth suiciding a ship or two on to learn their fit (if not on zkill already.) I find lots of them operate without tackle or with less normal fits that allow for abuse. You can often drop in and grab one to kill, then escape before the others get you. Not the most interesting content, but oddly satisfying to drop a farmer 
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Eh, everything you are speaking of has already happened. You are preaching to the choir. The only real problem I see with your words is that I don’t see any way to wipe out 5 algosses with 16k ehp before the other 20 Algosses converge on your site and slide. Better off being inside with a longbow before they are and shooing them off. Alternatively smartbombing the 125 drones that will come after you.
Thats what happens when the PvE bears get their wish; EVE turns into farmville.
Careful what you wish for.
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Oh yeah definitely, Navy Dreads and allowing nullsec blocks into FW was such a neat idea …
Whoddathunk …
That gets old fast and it’s pretty much the main bulk of content that’s left out there.
If you don’t have a group to fleet with for gang fights, you’re finding yourself wasting a lot of time on these bored/boring people.
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it went wrong because they change a couple of things (which were good) but failed to capitalise on it by adding more variety; for example they didnt change missions iirc, they added one type of battlefield; could have been more - like mini bf or large which were rarer or something…
basically they did a hotfix which was good but then sort of abandoned it to farmers again.
Imo some sort of lp/isk gain for prolific and active pvpers should be higher (for solo and small gang kills) and some sort of variables should be added to make it less static - i mean less farmable but meh, not gonna roam just to kill nubs and i highly doubt any of my ideas would be implemented so not gonna waste my time fleshing them out
They got rid of „PvP for profit“ in game mechanics long ago and it hasn’t come back. The best they can do is PvEvP for profit. ESS, FW, etc. It’s up to the player then to self fund the ISK (via PLEX, so great for CCPs bottom line) your PvP if you’re not into any of the PvEvP hand holding. Or, use the very few piracy tools left to hunt for profit (lancing JFs, shooting loot piñatas in high sec).
Handing out new PvEvP sites like FW Missions, battlefields, complex sites doesn’t fundamentally change the equation.
Incorrect.
How so?
isnt that what theyre trying to discuss here?
This is a common belief, but not actually true.
People play games for the rewards they can achieve, whatever those rewards might be in their own terms. For some players, the ego-boost of winning a PvP fight is enough. For some adrenalin junkies, even a loss might be rewarding if it got the blood pumping.
For the majority of gamers though, they want to see some sort of more concrete reward. Whether it’s material gain, or reputation, or standing, or some other kind of perk - if they stand to lose something and gain nothing, players will avoid that activity.
CCP has designed PvP in EVE to be lossy, meaning more is lost than gained in any PvP that creates destruction. And they’ve designed FW (and most other content) such that the rewards are attached to some activity other than actual PvP. They’re obviously working under the impression that “players will just naturally want to PvP each other” rather than “players will PvP if PvP gives them equal or better rewards than other activities”. Or at least, close to it.
If CCP designed FW or PvP such that the rewards were tied to actually PvPing and causing destruction, then there would be more of it. Bad design leads to poor participation.